This World Was Ours
by Seliphra
Summary: It's the zombie apocalypse, and Lance is on his own, on the run… until he meets a cute stranger with a sword who saves his life. Survival is tough, but at least it isn't all bad! Klance with some side pairings.
1. Alone

A/N: Who's up for a Voltron Zombie AU? All of us, I hope! Anyways, this first chapter is a little short, but the next chapter will be longer too. For those of you who have followed my older stories, those will get continued eventually, but right now I'm just not into DRRR so it will have to wait.

Warnings: Zombies, probably smut in later chapters, death, violence, cursing, graphic texts, you know the drill I guess. It's a zombie AU, use your judgement.  
Pairings: Klance, Shallura, and I guess I will add on if I add in any others.

Please leave a review if you enjoyed it, reviews motivate me and since I haven't written in a few years (my father dying kinda did a number on me there I guess), it would be good to get that motivation going!

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Lance frowned quietly as he stared into the remnants of the fire in front of him, jumping at every noise made, every slight shuffle or grunt from outside. He longed for the heat and light of a fire but fire was too dangerous right now. He gently and as quietly as he could kicked out the last of the smouldering embers of the fire now, shivering a little bit as he quietly laid down, too neurotic to sleep. Every sound startled him and made his pulse race, and there was no safe place to rest either. This was as good as it got... a chain link fence, darkness, and a bunch of sheets protected him from the view of those... those _things_ outside the fence, either in the storage area of an old restaurant, or in the restaurant itself. Probably a dozen on the streets too. He had to go back out there eventually, but he didn't like the idea of it. He might not be able to come back here, and this spot, though not safe, was certainly better than most places.

His last thought before he grew too tired to remain awake any longer was of his family. He was worried about them, and wracked with guilt over not knowing... they had to be okay though. They were as tough as he was! And yet, worry ate him alive from the inside. They were separated three weeks ago, during an attack on the place they had been sleeping. Lance had thought they were right behind him... but they weren't, and it had been too dangerous to go back right away. By the time he'd been able to check a week later, there was nothing there. Ah... so tired... finally sleep did claim him.

* * *

When he woke he could hear nothing at all. No birds, but that was normal now. How did the world come to this anyways? It took all of a week for the whole world to crumble, to fall to absolute ruin... and it had been a month since then. A month of barely surviving, barely making it to the next day... and whatever those things were, they sure as shit weren't humans. Not any more, anyways. Lance was quiet as he got up, stretching the kinks out of his back and finding what was left of his food in the backpack he carried. He chewed as quietly as possibly on some beef jerky and pulled his jacket on and then his pack before carefully looking outside. He lifted the sheet draped over the fence with trembling fingers, holding his breath as he did and looking around.

Lance dropped the sheet and covered his mouth, swallowing to try and keep his fear in check before lifting it up again. It hadn't moved... it was just standing there, silent as could be, in the sunlight that streamed in through the broken window pane of the storage facility. Just one... just one... it was just one... he kept repeating that thought inside his head as he prepped himself for the sprint to the door. Oh, if there was a God, he prayed to it now that there was nothing on the other side of that door. A rat squeaked, causing the thing to shift it's focus and shamble towards it. Opposite direction of Lance too, which he was grateful for. He moved now, opening the fence silently, then closing it again -just in case he was able to come back here after all.

He moved as absolutely quietly as he could, not taking his eyes off the thing, and it didn't seem too interested in him either... until he stepped on some of that broken glass with an unfortunately loud _CRUNCH._ It spun, and when it laid eyes on him it let out one of those raspy, terrifying growls that they all made and began lunging for him.

Lance turned, sprinting for the door which waved open. Two more! Damn it! He leaped over the counter and dodged between the booths before leaping through the broken front window before taking off, full tilt down the street. His heart raced as he glanced behind himself. Four in the street, but not fast ones, and the three from the McDonald's he'd sheltered in overnight, though those three were hung up with trying to get back out of the former fast-food joint. He ducked down an alleyway and then slowed to a stop, peeking out to see if there were more... none down this street it seemed. He moved quickly, but no longer running. An urban street, houses, all abandoned but the lawns still looked pretty good. He was glad for the warmth of this season, but winter he was already worrying about too. How was he supposed to survive both those things _and_ the freezing cold of winter? Maybe he'd be dead by then...

He didn't know this area too well, but he did know he needed food. Maybe those houses were okay, but he wasn't sure he should risk it either. Looked like there was a convenience store down the street too, so he made his way there now. The lights were still on, but the windows were all smashed in, by people or the things he wasn't sure yet. He looked around and didn't see any for now, so he silently slipped inside and hoped like hell there were none in here... and that the other ones didn't follow him in. Some stuff had been taken, but he did score some chocolate bars, and beef jerky, some peanuts... and water! Bottled water! The faucets still worked well enough, but houses were death traps in many respects too.

He loaded up what he could, as quiet as he could, but when he opened the cooler and reached for water, something moving back there caught his attention. Oh shit... He slid backwards and hit the shelf behind him and a hand reached through one of the empty slots. The skin was mottled, grayish and white, pealing in a few parts, and black near the finger tips and nails. The arm pushed through at the same time the horrifying, raspy-sounding growl left it, and though Lance couldn't see its face, he knew it's lips were pulling into a sneer, it's teeth gnashing to try and bite him.

It seemed trapped there so he looked around again before carefully opening again and removing four large bottles of water, his eyes on the hand so he could keep out of the way. The bite made you one of them, but he wasn't sure about scratches. No way he was risking it though. Lance put the pack on his back again and peeked around the shelves and then... oh shit. OH SHIT! There were five or six of them out there, and Lance had no real escape route. He only saw them for a second but they seemed interested in the shop... the one in the cooler... it was making too much noise, and he swallowed, his heart racing again.

Lance couldn't shut the thing in the cooler up, and he was too scared to move now. He had to figure something out though, or he was definitely dead now, and Lance definitely did not want to be dead. Okay, maybe if he was really fast, he could get away? Or if he ran over there... behind the cash registers, and then drew their attention? He might be able to bolt around them and out the window if he was lucky. Just as Lance got ready to move he heard a very odd sound. A wet one, like meat being cut, and then thumps of something hitting the pavement. Then he heard footsteps, the crunch of glass beneath someones -or somethings- feet, and just as Lance made to bolt someone turned the corner, sword in hand.

"Ah!" He yelped as a sword got pressed to his throat, his eyes widening in shock. The guy holding the sword had dark, purplish eyes and black hair... Japanese from what Lance could tell. And definitely not rotting. Actually, this guy was pretty cute too, were they not in the midst of the apocalypse, Lance might flirt with him. This guy was so fast with that thing too! It was no surprise why he was still alive with that speed, and probable skill. It took the stranger a moment or two too, but the sword lowered now and then went back into it's sheath.

"You're alive huh?" The cute stranger asked, his voice smooth as silk to Lance's ears, and the first voice that Lance had heard that wasn't his own in almost three weeks now. It was so nice to hear an actual human voice that Lance could barely keep it together. An answer! Right! He needed to answer! He nodded, his throat not working properly it seemed. Admittedly he never thought 'are you alive' would be a question directed at him.

"Good... come with me then."


	2. Pharmacy Raid

Hey, here is chapter two, hope everyone enjoys! Not a lot of people reading this yet, but that's okay! Leave a review if you like it!

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"Who are you?" Lance asked for the third time as he followed Sword Guy down the street. He earned a glare for that and a roll of those pretty, purplish eyes, but Lance needed to know. They hadn't gone far yet. Sword Guy had grabbed more food and water, and he killed the thing in the cooler too, which had made Lance flinch a little in disgust. His own voice was still a little crackly, having gone unused for three weeks now, since he got separated from his family.

"Come on man, I don't even know who you are, or _why_ I should follow you to... to wherever it is you're taking me. I can't at least get your name?" ' _Cute, but grumpy'_... Lance thought to himself, pouting a little bit. Not to mention a mullet seemed to be coming in too, ' _How eighties...'_

"Keith. Keith Kogane. Now shut up and trust me okay? They're attracted to sound, so stay quiet," Keith said, his voice soft, so the things would hopefully not overhear them. Lance scowled a little bit, but he stuck close anyways. His survival chances were better with Keith than without him... Keith had a sword and apparently knew how to use it too, and Lance... well. Lance was a fast sprinter and he was flexible and could probably fight okay... against humans. Against these things though, he'd rather just run like hell and hope they didn't keep up.

"Where are we going?" Lance hissed now and then swallowed at the sight of a small strip mall. It was the kind most suburbs had, with a liquor store, a small shopping centre, a bar... there was even a pizza place! Though Lance suspected they probably didn't have any pizza in there now...

"There's a pharmacy in there, now shut up and come on... or don't, I don't actually care..." Keith grumbled quietly, pulling out some binoculars to look at what he had to handle outside the stores. There were at least twenty of them shambling around the parking lot, shambling around or standing still. They didn't look dangerous when they were like this. It didn't seem like they could or would kill you in half a heart beat if you got too close to them. Lance wished he didn't know the truth, then maybe he wouldn't feel so afraid he might puke.

"You gonna go in there? For... for _drugs_?" Lance asked, just to clarify. He wasn't sure a junkie was the best person to team up with for the apocalypse but then again maybe they just needed some advil?

"I'm not going because I _want_ to, believe me. But we're gonna need a lot of medicine now that the world's ended..." Keith grumbled now, rolling his eyes, "if you don't wanna come, then don't... you'll just be in the way anyways..." Keith wasn't all that polite it seemed, but Lance supposed the end of days did forgive that one. For now, at any rate.

"Fine, fine, I'm coming... but only if we get an epipen while we're in there..." He agreed. Lance supposed they should grab another bag while they were there... shopping bags were in those places right?

"A... fine, whatever. Just... stay close, and keep quiet..." Keith started moving then, sword drawn as he did, and staying low to the ground. Lance followed close, his eyes still on Keith, or they were until they got close. Lance had always gotten distracted easily, but lately that seemed to come in handy more than anything, as a small movement drew his attention this time and he reached out to grab Keith's arm in response to it. Keith turned to glare at him, but the expression Lance wore gave him pause, and Lance pointed one finger, trembling slightly, at what had drawn his gaze.

It was one of the things, staring right at them as it sprinted full tilt down the road, it's mouth open already as it did. It was enormous too, nearing six and a half feet, it's skin mottled grey, but peeled back on the cheeks and forearms, likely peeled away while trying to catch a person. It made no raspy snarl at them, it's throat torn out by something or someone that had encountered it already. Keith stood, and motioned for Lance to move, which he did. This drew it's attention though causing it to focus on Lance, course veering right for him. He felt his pulse in his head as he tried to evade it, but fell on his ass instead, so afraid he thought his head might explode, and Lance raised an arm to try to defend himself from it.

For as fast as the thing was though, Keith was fast too, moving towards it, sword raised. With it distracted by Lance, Keith was able to sever one of it's legs and an arm in two fast movements. The thing dropped, and another jab from the sword caused it to stop moving, though Lance's pulse was still way above what it should be, and embarrassingly enough he felt tears in his eyes. At least he hadn't peed himself, he supposed, but he didn't understand how Keith could be this cool about the things. Lance had never felt as helpless as he had in the past month since this whole fiasco began...

Keith gave the sword a flick, trying to get the blackened, rotting blood of his sword, but it didn't do much to help. He'd have to clean it properly later. He walked the few steps to Lance and reached one hand out to help him stand up again, making Lance's cheeks heat with further embarrassment. Lance took the offered hand anyways, wiping his cheeks to get rid of the tears that left dark streaks there.

Keith motioned silently to keep going and Lance could barely believe that they were _still_ going in after the sprinter had nearly gotten them. Or maybe it hadn't, and Lance's terror was simply putting the thought in his head. He was riding way too much adrenaline though now, as a result, and he wished this stranger could at least say something, or sweat, or... or look scared! If Keith looked scared, Lance would feel a little bit better about feeling so afraid all the time lately...

They drew closer still though, much as Lance didn't want to, and Keith motioned to him to move around the back of the strip mall. The alleyway had two... definitely more manageable than the twenty or so, and there was a way up to the roof, not that it would be easy. Keith made to charge, but Lance reached out instinctively. On the roof they would have time to think if they could pull themselves up from there... but from here, the sound of fighting would draw the parking lot things into the alleyway, which was more trouble than they needed. Keith might be good with that sword of his, but there was no way he could take a small horde like that on without difficulty at least... and he was looking a little worse for wear, now that Lance had a chance to actually look.

Lance pointed to the two things in the alleyway, neither of which had noticed them yet, then at the rocks strewn about. He made a throwing motion, then with two fingers mimed walking to the dumpsters, a jump, and tried to mime them climbing on the roof. Keith stared at him with a completely blank expression, not understanding any of it. Damn... Keith was looking now though, and then pointed at the rocks and gave a thumbs up, picking one up and peeking out to see where the things were.

Keith had a look of deep concentration before he threw it in a high arch, and far to the other side. Both of the things perked up, heads facing the sound and then beginning to wander towards it and out towards the parking lot. Silently they hurried now to the dumpster, Lance right behind Keith. He was a little taller than Keith too, Lance noticed as he pulled himself up onto the roof. Keith couldn't quite reach it seemed which made Lance feel a little bit better about being so useless... until now of course. Lance reached down and helped pull Keith up onto the roof, feeling a bit smug about Keith needing _his_ help this time.

They moved along the top of the store to the roof access door. The air conditioning and heating units were all on the roof, so this was the safest way into the store... Lance hoped. Keith had his sword out anyways, but he would pray to whatever was listening that there wasn't a single one of those things inside. The lights were still on, which help a little for Lance at least, and Keith lead the way, down the stairs. They came out into a back room, one the customers were never supposed to see, and a couple of the lights were beginning to flicker, but most likely due to not being changed in a month. More than that, come to think of it.

From what Lance could hear, there were some out in the aisles, but Keith stuck to the walls for now and Lance stuck to Keith. Why was he doing this? Why didn't he just stay on the roof tops or say 'Thanks but no thanks' when Keith said 'come with me' to him? He knew why... he would take even this guy who was crazy enough to break into a pharmacy full of those undead -or perhaps truly dead- things during the apocalypse over the alternative. Another night of pulse racing fear and not knowing if he'd wake up because he was done sleeping, or because he was being eaten alive. Another night of deafening silence and the all-encompassing fear that came with no noise at all, not even insects in the grass. Another night of the silence only being broken up by those horrifying rasping gasps as those things shuffled around in the dark.

Keith was moving a lot slower now, Lance noticed, and he didn't look good. Maybe he really was an addict? Keith took down the thing that was near the pharmacy before hopping the counter and heading into the shelves to look for something specific. Lance took the chance to grab what he could see from the shelves. Advil, nyquil, gravol, midol... anything that might come in handy, whether it be for them, or to trade with any other survivors they ran into. The sound of one of those things startled him behind the counter and back to where Keith was.

"Dude, come on, just grab whatever and let's go..." Lance hissed under his breath at Keith. Was he reading all the labels? Lance did find the EpiPen packs easy enough, right near where Keith was looking too, so he had what he needed just in case. Well, for a year anyways, otherwise he had to hope he didn't run into any bees...

"I can't just grab _whatever_ , and I kind of need... this one, _thank fuck!_ " He whispered, pulling out a grey cylinder with a red cap. He knelt down now and grabbed something out of his backpack along with what looked like a strip of paper. Keith pressed it to his finger and... ouch, was that blood?! Lance watched him curiously, reading the label on the one Keith seemed to want so badly too. _Humalog 100U/ml_ Kwikpen it red in red letters on the white box beside the pen.

Keith looked annoyed by what the meter said too when it beeped -too loudly for Lance's liking- at him and he grabbed the grey cylinder again. He fiddled with it for a second before lifting his shirt and injecting himself with it on the abdomen, which made Lance wince a little bit reflexively. He hated needles, and didn't see how anyone could want one as much as Keith seemed to want that one, though he figured it was probably important. Keith patted the spot next to him and made a drinking motion so Lance sat down and cracked a bottle open for him after digging one out of his bag.

"Thanks..." Keith whispered, before digging a list out, along with a fabric draw-string bag, "look for everything on this list... take as much of it as you can..." He whispered, and Lance huffed softly but he did as he was told too. Being on high alert like this made it especially easy to get distracted at least, so he figured he'd notice anything coming. For now, he tried to keep his attention on what he needed to look for.

More of that _Humalog_ stuff... he grabbed the pens and the cartridges and the vials too, but now he read it more closely too. Insulin... so Keith was diabetic then? That kind of explained that then, and Lance secretly felt like an ass for assuming more negatively about him now. _Levemir_ was the other one, and it had a nice turquoise colour, though Lance wasn't sure why Keith needed two kinds. Then again he wasn't well versed on insulin in general... What else... _Qvar_... he grabbed whatever he found there too, and _Ventolin_ , nitroglycerine spray, and _Effexor (37.5)_... Odd combo... they couldn't all be for Keith right? No way.

Lance was looking left and right and through shelves every few seconds too, his head apparently on a swivel-stick with every tiny sound he heard, everything he thought he saw out of the corner of his eye. He also grabbed a few other things from back there, not paying much attention to what. Something caught his attention and this time he dropped to the floor when he saw one of those things shuffling around too close. He moved as slowly and quietly as he could with the bag full of stuff but he caught it's attention anyways and he swallowed hard as it's head moved from side to side, watching him as it shuffled closer, stopped by the counter. It reached out at him now, and Lance's eyes fixated on it, and he couldn't help but notice every detail of it.

It _was_ a woman, at one time. Judging by the whiteness of her hair she was probably older when she succumbed to the same plague that claimed almost everyone, though even dead, her hair held on to the tight curls it once grew in, though now it had thinned in her death. Her lips were gone now, revealing her blackening gums and mottled grey tongue and teeth. Her eyes were whitened too, the pupils tiny dots in icy grey, like they all had. Her skin was mottled too, but hints of the beautiful dark brown skin still remained, even with the flesh underneath the same ugly grey as her mouth was now, and Lance couldn't help picturing what she would have been in life... she must have been really beautiful, he decided, but he was distracted by Keith who moved in now. One thrust of his sword was all it took to silence the rasping she gave off and he listened silently for a minute before motioning to Lance and grabbing his bag. Time to go.


	3. Safety

I'm actually writing kinda fast? I haven't written in a long time, but this has been good... new friends in this chapter! please leave a review if you feel so inclined.

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The journey to the stairwell was pulse racing, a few of the things hearing them as they tried to move silently and beginning to give chase. Keith tugged him inside the employee room and closed the door and motioned for him to stay down for now. Lance didn't really understand why they couldn't just run for it, they could outpace them to the roof after all, and close the door, and he looked at Keith to scowl in protest, before noticing Keith still looked pale. He was pulling out the monitor again, and took another swig of the half finished bottle of water while he pricked his finger again. Lance made a face at that again, which Keith ignored, more interested in the number on the screen, which Lance didn't understand. It was lower than the other one he'd seen, though considering Keith's expression, not lower enough.

The beep it had sounded echoed a little in the room though, and even Keith flinched at the sound of it, especially when a steady _THUD. THUD. THUD. s_ ound came at the door afterwards. Keith glared and braced himself against the door and Lance did the same... One of the things came into view at the window into the room too, and pressed it's face to the glass, apparently trying to chew it's way through with its greyish black teeth. Lance couldn't help it again, picturing what this man must have once looked like. No hair anymore, so Lance imagined brown hair, short in length. His eyes were probably once a hazelnut brown, Lance decided, though they were the same ugly, ice-grey all the things had. Lance decided this thing used to have a bright smile too, though he was a bit short and stocky... a loud _THUD._ From the thing he was imagining on the glass snapped him out of it though.

"We... we shouldn't have come in here..." Lance whimpered softly, and Keith glared at him for it. "What? They already know we're in here, more of them are gonna come... sure these three can't break it down, but how the hell do we get out of here until then?" He hissed in response and Keith sighed softly.

"No choice. Can't fight yet... blood sugar is still too high, and my insulin takes a while to peak. Safer than the pharmacy, considering that elderly Biter nearly made it in after you. You're lucky, you know. She probably had osteoporosis or something, she was slow," Keith muttered back with a sigh, taking another sip before offering some to Lance who took the bottle with a frown, and took a sip.

"So like... why didn't you come here a week ago if you were that desperate?" Lance asked softly. He wouldn't have left it so long if he was in Keith's shoes. ' _Biters, huh?_ ' Lance thought to himself too, supposing that made more sense than 'things'.

"I tried. Couldn't make my way inside..." Keith said softly, taking the bottle back from Lance and drinking more. "And anyways, I know the others will need their med's pretty soon too, some of them need them, and one... well, he can go off, but not cold turkey..." He scowled as a fourth one appeared and began adding to the thudding on the door and windows. Lance could hear them rasping too, at their trapped prey.

"Won't help much if we both die in here..." Lance sighed, before frowning a little. "There's more of your group then? How... how many?" He was a little bit hopeful maybe. Being on his own was... harder than he could have imagined before he had been left alone.

"Four, including me. You should come with me you know. With us, I mean. It's better than being alone right?" Keith asked. Anyways, their survival chances increased in a group, even Lance knew that and he nodded. Anything was better than another night so alone that he could suffocate on it.

"I um... that sounds nice. You have a safe spot?" Lance asked, looking and feeling almost hopeful. Almost, if it weren't for the steady drum beat on the windows and glass, keeping tempo with his building anxiety. _THUD. THUD. THUD. THUD._ Like a horrible heart beat, reminding him that he might not even live to see this group. ' _Shut up. Just be quiet_.' He wanted to yell at the sound, at the things making it.

"I don't think anywhere is safe any more..." Keith said softly, and Lance was a bit surprised by how soft his expression was then. Sad, angry, maybe defeated? He wasn't an easy read for Lance, but he wasn't impossible either, whenever his guard flickered a little. It seemed like that was a rare occurrence though, something that Keith tried to avoid at all costs if he could.

"I guess not huh? This sucks... how many are out there now, do you think?" Lance asked, shivering a little, scowling at the window now. They were multiplying, it seemed, and it annoyed him a lot. He had stopped imagining what they once looked like now, too many, and he kept switching which one he was picturing with his over-active imagination. They were so distracting!

"Looks like eight of them now..." Keith frowned. The tempo was increasing too and getting more frantic as they tried to chew through the glass to reach them. "They aren't frenzied up though, they probably won't get in..."

"Yeah, but we still gotta get _out_ right?" Lance reminded, his tone mildly annoyed by the utter lack of concern Keith seemed to have with their current situation. They were probably already dead, and just had yet to go through with the act of actually _dying_ yet.

"We will, I just gotta recover a little... five more minutes should be fine," Keith said, his tone unconcerned, and apparently he had either not picked up on Lance's annoyance at all, or he didn't care. That annoyed Lance even more. This guy just had to be _so cool_ and _unfazed_ by the monstrosities that still thudded all too loudly against the glass and door. Keith dug through his bag now, pulling out a pink hair elastic and pulling his hair back, tying it up.

"Pink?" Lance tried to tease, smirking a little bit at Keith, but he didn't seem all that concerned with Lance's mocking. Lance teased to avoid thinking about Katie, his other best friend. He didn't know how she was either... she was younger than he was, but she was a genius, skipped up a few years and in his and Hunk's class. They hung out with her a lot, but he didn't know if she was alive either now. She always wore pink elastics though in her hair. Always. Lance couldn't help remembering how tiny she was too, and how she couldn't run without causing an asthma attack, how she coughed and hacked and gasped for air the one time he'd actually seen her run... how could she run from these things? How could she have survived when she'd have to run from these things... when she couldn't even run? The thought saddened him a lot more than he'd ever admit to her, if he ever saw her again.

"It's the apocalypse, I'm not that picky. Anyways, I'm borrowing it," Keith said, stretching a little bit now and grabbing the bag, pulling it onto his back again. Lance couldn't help looking at that jawline Keith had... or the neck, or... he had better stop getting distracted by that cute face. Especially cute with that hair up, really, _damn_ Keith and how damn good he looked! No one had the right to look that hot during the end of the world!

"You got the medicine? Ready to run?" Keith asked, his expression setting harder as he got ready to fight. Lance pulled the backpack on, then grabbed the other cloth one, strapping it to his front since he didn't want to risk breaking any of the medicine inside between his back and his backpack.

"Not really, no, but let's do this..." Lance sighed and Keith stood up. Lance stood up too, and moved behind him, eyes on the door as Keith moved slowly forward, opening the door for the things and jumping backwards. His sword flew into action as they tumbled in. Two with bits of dark hair still on their scalps, and he cut them both down with a single swing before pressing forwards. Once he made it to the hallway Lance moved behind him and started running for the door. Keith relented the fight and turned, sprinting after Lance as fast as he could.

Left... up the stairs... Lance hit the door hard and went flying out of it, followed by Keith who slammed the door behind them and kept going for the spot they had climbed up on. Lance was there too, as the door to the roof clanked open, and the things poured out, aiming for them. Keith hopped down, the dumpster clanging far too loudly, and Lance didn't hesitate jumping after him, then to the ground. _Damn_ Keith could run though! Keith did skid to a stop to check the corners and then sprinted to the right so Lance moved after him without bothering to check. He was lucky nothing was there, but the ones from the alley were definitely after them, and so were the ones from the roof, apparently having no qualms about jumping off the roof onto gravel.

It was a right, a left, another right, and a fence hopped before Keith finally stopped, breathing heavily, and Lance had to lay down on the grass in what used to be someone's back yard to catch his breath too. He felt almost dizzy as he stared into the perfectly blue sky, watching the wisps of stark white cloud against it. It seemed almost impossible, how blue the sky was... impossibly blue, with all the horror that existed on this miserable planet, and the sky could still be so impossibly _blue_. It amazed Lance a little bit, in a way. And the grass he lay in now, was as impossibly jade green, for all the blue in that sky.

"You can... really run..." He finally wheezed out softly as his breath came back, his lungs and chest still burning, his legs feeling like jelly. He focused on the blades of grass, each blade different... and long too, it had been over a month at the very least since anyone cut it, after all. He sat up when he saw something in it though, grinning wildly. An _ant_! He hadn't seen an ant in over a month! Lance had not realized he could even miss ants, and yet, this little ant had just caused a huge swell of joy in his heart. It was overwhelmingly wonderful that _ants_ still existed, despite everything.

"Yeah well... I got beat up a lot when I was younger..." Keith mumbled, though he was giving Lance a curious look now. Probably the huge grin he still had plastered to his face. "What has you so happy?" Keith asked, his voice still a hushed whisper, still afraid to talk too loud, in case anything heard them.

"Dude... it's an ant!" Lance said, though as he said it, he realized it probably sounded completely ridiculous. Keith had an odd reaction too though, grinning hugely and moving closer to see too. Maybe it wasn't so strange then, how happy Lance felt to see something so fragile and small still existed.

"Seriously?!" Keith hissed in excitement, his eyes wide, his expression one of almost child-like happiness as he spotted the ant too. "You know... I haven't seen anything alive other than people since this all started... hey, did you know that ants were farming about seventy million years ago?" Keith asked suddenly.

"Ah... no, I didn't..." Lance said, a bit startled by the random factoid, but that was something he apparently did a lot too. Hunk sometimes commented that he must know as much as Katie did, but Lance didn't think that was true. Maybe Keith was kind of like him then? Lance just didn't know anything really about ants...

"Yeah. Earliest fossils suggest they came into being as the species we know today around a hundred and thirty million years ago. Earliest evidence of farming comes in during the tertiary period, about seventy million years ago though. What's really cool is they developed fertilization protocols and learned to secret chemicals that inhibit mould growth even before we existed as a species and..." Keith trailed off, turning pink suddenly and pulling away. "We... we shouldn't linger..." He said suddenly.

"Ah? Right, right... hey ant friend... you keep anting okay?" Lance whispered to the ant, who was none the wiser about anything either of them had to say to it. Lance stood up and grabbed his pack, still breathing a bit harder than normal, but his lungs ached less now, and his legs felt ready to move once more. Keith lead the way, slowly this time as they walked, his hair still tied back and out of his face. Lance couldn't help but stare, whenever he thought Keith wasn't looking. Lance didn't really pay attention to where they were going, the street names not sinking in too well, but he did notice everything as they walked too.

He noticed the flowers, in full bloom in so many gardens, the way the lawns looked, more natural than usual. He noticed several bright yellow dandelions growing between cracks in the sidewalks, and the odd house with boarded up windows, though whether the occupants still remained there was unknowable. Lance noticed the sky, the cloud that looked just like a rabbit, and the one near it that looked just like a dragon, and he noticed the heat of the midday sun on his back and neck. He noticed the light sheen of sweat on Keith's forehead, and the way some of the strands of hair stuck to his neck and face, and how Keith's expression never faltered, and how Keith's eyes looked constantly for any sign of threat. Lance also noticed just the slightest movement from the corner of his eye and froze for a moment, causing Keith to pause and look at him, then follow his gaze.

Even more silently than they had been, they crept past that street where a hoard of at least fifty moved, away from them. Lance had no desire to attract their attention, though he did wonder where they were going, what they were following. Did the things migrate like birds? Or had something caught their attention? Or maybe they just felt a need to move, like he usually did. Finally Keith pointed to a building. An apartment building, with a buzz-in entry. Keith pressed one of the buttons tap, tap, hold, tap, and the door buzzed to signal it was opening. Lance wasted no time in hurrying in after Keith and closing the door behind them, and Keith seemed to relax more now.

"It's just our group in here..." Keith said as he walked towards the stairs. Electricity was still running and there was an elevator but Lance didn't want to risk that. If it stopped, there was no way to get out after all.

"Really? No one else in the building? How many unit's are in here?" Lance asked in surprise. A locked building like this seemed like a great spot to survive. Of course you had to still go and get supplies and stuff, but if the whole building pulled together...

"Well. Most people got sick and we um... some of them we didn't allow to get... past a certain level of sick. They didn't want to get that sick. Others I guess were out when everything went to shit... anyways, it's only fifty units in here," Keith shrugged. Lance had to suppress a shudder at the idea of killing people while they were still people but in a way he understood. He would rather die as himself too, than become one of those things out there, eating anything they found. They made their way up to the fifth floor, and down the hallway, to the fifth door on the left, which Keith knocked on the door. It was a series of specific knocks though, one slow, two fast, two slow, a pause, then two slow. When the door opened, it was another Japanese man who stood there, with a rather large scar across his nose, a shock of white hair and a very worried expression on his face.

"Keith! I told you not to go alone!" He said, though this new man looked relieved to see Keith apparently unharmed. Lance noticed his right arm was artificial, greyish, and sort of robotic looking. One of those new 3D printed models, he remembered seeing on the news.

"I didn't have a choice, you guys would have slowed me down too much. Anyways, I found someone, so I wasn't alone," Keith said, his tone a little angry, which caused this new guy to frown a little bit, though the look of concern on his face was one that made Lance... almost a bit jealous.

"Ah... you... oh. Hi, um... come on in..." White-hair said as Keith pushed his way past into the apartment, grumbling under his breath now. "I'm Takashi, but most people just call me Shiro..." He offered his artificial hand to shake and Lance hesitated a second before taking it and shaking hands. It felt oddly formal, considering their circumstances, but it was almost a welcome relief too.

"Hi, nice to meet you. I mean, it's nice to meet anyone these days, right~?" Lance joked. Even at the end of the world he still had a sense of humour. He had to, in a way, or he wasn't sure he could keep going. Shiro did grin a little at that as he let Lance inside the apartment.

"I guess that's true," Shiro agreed but the sound of running came then, and from inside the apartment. Lance was so used to being on edge that his whole body stiffened up at the sound of running now, though when someone skidded to a halt, something else sprang to life inside him.

" _Hunk_!"


	4. Authors note

This story has been discontinued on FanFiction dot net due to a lack of interest. Please continue to read this story on Archive of Our Own instead, under the same author name and work title.


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